Sharing the Fascinating Ice Age Floods Story Since 1995
Join our Lower Grand Coulee Chapter Outings Coordinator, Gene Wing, and others on 11/18 at 10AM for a hike to the "Crystal Cave" just south of Soap Lake. We will meet in the parking area at the end of Road 23 NW at 10AM. Directions: Follow Hwy 17 North from the city of Soap Lake to Road 23 NW, turn left and continue to the parking area at the end of Road 23. Map coordinates: 47.424369, -119.505622
The Wenatchee Valley Erratics Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute’s next program will be Tuesday, December 12 at 7:00 PM. This is a hybrid program, with the speakers presenting remotely via Zoom from Seattle. For those who are not computer- or Zoom-savvy, you can attend in-person for a screening at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center, 127 S. Mission, Wenatchee. Or at home via Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84520197937 Webinar ID: 845 2019 7937 In Washington, you are never far from the past, including evidence of plants and animals that came before. Fossil flowers in Republic. Trilobites near the Idaho border. Primitive horses on the Columbia Plateau. Tracks of giant birds near Bellingham. Curious bear-like creatures on the Olympic Peninsula. With abundant and well-exposed rock layers, Washington has fossils dating from Ice Age mammals from only 12,000 years ago, to marine invertebrates more than 500 million years old. Join co-authors Dr. Liz Nesbitt and David B. Williams as they discuss this rich array of past life, which is featured in their new book, "Spirit Whales and Sloth Tales: Fossils in Washington State"— the first book ever on fossils in the state! Why did they choose the fossils they did? What is the new science that has allowed paleontologists to tease out the 500-million-year long story of life in this region? Liz Nesbitt is curator emerita of invertebrate and micropaleontology at the Burke Museum. David B. Williams is an author, naturalist, tour guide, and Curatorial Associate at the Burke Museum. Please sign in, or show up, at 7:00 PM, December 12! The program is free and open to the public.
On 08Jan2024 the Puget Lobe Chapter has Guest Lecturer Dr. Vic Baker presents "Ice Age Floods Around the World". This presentation will be a "Zoom" (URL https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82985244730. And in-person at Bellevue College Bldg R, Rm R103. see map in separate post. There are approximately 24 mega-floods referenced on the maps, of which, #4 is probably the Missoula Floods and outwash from the "Atwater"(#9) and Lake Bonneville (#5) outburst floods. (index unavailable) Known ice-age mega-floods (red arrows and numbers) for the northern hemisphere (polar view). Blue areasindicate the extent of glacial ice and purple areas show mega-lakes at the time of the ice-age flooding.
The Wenatchee Valley Erratics Chapter’s next program will be Tuesday, February 13 at 7:00 PM. Our speaker will present live at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center, 127 S. Mission, Wenatchee. There is also a Zoom link so one can watch remotely: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84520197937 Webinar ID: 845 2019 7937. Joseph T. Pardee Bill Burgel is coming up from Portland to tell us about “Joseph T. Pardee and Glacial Lake Missoula.” Pardee was a USGS Field Geologist whose expertise was in Western Montana, where he was raised and worked for years. He was the first to recognize, around 1910, the features of a vast, ancient Glacial Lake Missoula. In the 1920s, working independently of Pardee, Harlan Bretz had determined from field evidence, that only an extraordinarily huge flood, or floods, could have carved out the Channeled Scablands and the big coulees associated with them in eastern and central Washington. But he didn’t know the source of the water. Pardee quipped that he “knew the source of Bretz’ water.” In 1925, he suggested to Bretz that the draining of a glacial lake could account for the magnitude of water flows needed to create the Scablands and coulees. The program is free, and open to the public. ---- Bill Burgel worked in the railroad industry for 40 years, in engineering and operations. With his background and training in geology, he was often called upon to resolve landslide issues and rerouting studies, earthquake warning strategies, and to conduct long tunnel analyses. Contact information: Brent Cunderla - Erratics Chapter President cunderla@nwi.net (509) 860-6067 Susan D. Freiberg - Erratics Chapter Publicity wenvalerratics@yahoo.com
Come and Learn About The Unfolding Story of Ancient Ice Age Floods in the Pacific Northwest Ages End - Stev Ominski We have had Ice Age Floods in the Pacific Northwest over the past 2.8 million years. We mostly concentrate on the last ones which are called the Missoula Floods that happened between 15,000-20,000 years ago. But there is an unfolding story in the Pacific Northwest of many Ice Age Floods before the Missoula Floods. Erica Medley, an MS student of Scott Burns, did her thesis on the topic and discovered many outcrops of these ancient floods which are rarely discussed. Dr. Burns will talk about these oft-forgotten floods and the very interesting story of these neglected Ancient Ice Age Floods in the Pacific Northwest Come and learn more about these very interesting older Ice Age Floods, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024 at 7:00 PM (Pacific Time) Live at Tualatin Heritage Center, 8700 SW Sweek Dr., Tualatin, OR 97062 Or on Zoom - Click here to join via ZOOM Meeting ID: 827 0148 6070 Passcode: 265961 Dr. Scott Burns taught geology for 54 years in Switzerland, New Zealand, Washington, Colorado and Louisiana before coming in 1990 to Portland State University. He loves talking about the geology of the Pacific Northwest and this subject that is so many times neglected. Professor Emeritus of Engineering Geology, Portland State University President IAEG (International Association of Engineering Geologist and the Environment) Member Board of Directors, Lower Columbia Chapter Ice Age Floods Institute. Co-Author revised Second Edition: "Cataclysms on the Columbia" Email: BurnsS@pdx.edu Telephone: (503} 725-3389 Website: http://dr-scott-burns.com
In this overview, learn about the history of the Channeled Scablands. We look back to around 20,000 years ago at the end of the last glacial maximum and at the formation of two huge, glacially dammed, meltwater glacial lakes—Missoula and Columbia. We explore the subsequent failures of the Lake Missoula ice dam, which resulted in a series of megafloods that occurred between 18,000 and 14,000 years ago. Then, we discuss the geologic and hydrologic factors that control lake formations from the Medical Lake area to Fish Lake. Presented by Dr. Linda McCollum, professor emeritus of geosciences at EWU and of the Ice Age Floods Institute
Ice Age Floodscapes of the Pacific Northwest: A photographic exploration Geologist and author Bruce Bjornstad will present a bird's eye view of the Ice Age megafloods that impacted the Pacific Northwest as recently as 14,000 years ago and shaped the landscape of the mid-Columbia basin. Bruce's presentation will be a stunning picture show of amazing drone photos from all over the Pacific NW flood plain. This will be a hybrid meeting, live and livestreamed via ZOOM, on Tuesday evening at 7PM. We will post it to Youtube after editing. It will be great. Bruce Bjornstad is a retired geologist with degrees from the University of New Hampshire and Eastern Washington University living in Richland, Washington. During his career Bjornstad has written numerous documents and reports on the geology of eastern Washington as well as two geologic guidebooks "On the Trail of the Ice Age Floods" that tell of the transformation of the Pacific Northwest as recently as 14,000 years ago. Bjornstad is also the creator of the online YouTube Channel “Ice Age Floodscapes”. Most recently, Bjornstad has published a new, full-color, coffee-table-style book titled: “Ice Age Floodscapes of the Pacific Northwest: A Photographic Exploration”. Bruce will have books available for purchase. This presentation is free to attend. It begins at 7 pm, Tuesday, February 20, at the REACH Museum, 1943 Columbia Park Trail, Richland, WA Or join the Zoom Meeting, 7PM - 8:30PM Please note, the Zoom link that was listed before Feb. 8 was a mistake, the correct link is: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88136774109?pwd=zLCbrWxCXIzqJ5TK2bNshKCtRCCaRh.1 Meeting ID: 881 3677 4109 Passcode: 726292
The Spokane Aquifer is a legacy from the giant Ice Age floods that roared through the Spokane Valley, leaving behind a porous, coarse gravel that hosts our communities' water supply. The Aquifer story includes tales of fascinating, unique geologic processes and community historical events that formed and harnessed this resource. Presented by Geologist Michael Hamilton from the Ice Age Floods Institute
During this presentation, we follow the path of the floods from western Montana across the Idaho Panhandle, through the Columbia Basin and Gorge, into the Willamette Valley and finally to the Pacific Ocean. We look at some of the major floods features found within the four-state area-features you can see out your windshield as you travel through the floods area. Presented by Dr. Gary Ford, president of the Ice Age Floods Institute Brochures prepared by the Ice Age Floods Institute and National Park Service will be available. Books, videos, and maps on the floods will be available for purchase from the Cheney- Spokane Chapter of the Ice Age Floods institute.
Follow along on this imaginative look at the period when Lake Missoula was carving out our shrub-steppe scablands. Paul Lindholdt writes environmentally inflected nonfiction and journalism. His 10 books include In Earshot of Water, an ecological memoir that won the Washington State Book Award, The Spokane River, and Interrogating Travel. Presented by Paul Lindholdt, of the Ice Age Floods Institute